Simple Tips for Taking Pregnancy Bump Photos

When I was pregnant with my son a few years ago, I really wanted to capture my bump on a weekly basis so that I could watch it grow and grow. On a weekly basis, I would grab my DSLR and tripod, hang my faux brick backdrop, set the self timer, and do a few poses in front of the back drop. Looking back at the bump photos, it’s so fun to see how much my baby bump grew and grew during the 41 weeks that I was pregnant.

When I found out I was pregnant for the second time, we were living in a new house with a porch that I absolutely loved (and still love so much). I thought it would be fun to have my weekly baby bump photos taken on the porch.

So, what did I do?

I took a bar stool from our kitchen and placed it on the porch. I then took a lantern from our porch’s table and placed it on top of the stool. Next, I took a book from my son’s playroom and put it on top of the lantern. I propped my phone against a candle that was placed on top of my son’s book. Why the stool, lantern, and book? I needed height. Why not just ask my husband to take the photos instead of setting up the stool/lantern/book tower? Because I didn’t want to be an inconvenience. I wanted to take these photos on my time and not be rushed.

Almost every week, I would arrange my tower, set the self timer (it helped to have my phone’s volume turned up so that I could hear the countdown and know when my phone was getting close to snapping the photo), and do a few poses.

Simple Tips for Taking Pregnancy Bump Photos

What were the common themes when it came to taking my pregnancy bump photos?

Use a self timer.
Pick a theme and stick with it. For my first born, it was the brick wall background. For my second born, it was the porch.
Be consistent. For my first born, I took photos every week. For my second born, I took photos almost every week. #secondchildproblems
Use height. You don’t want photos taken from the low looking up because those photos aren’t flattering. Whether you use a tripod or another apparatus to get height, you’ll want to make sure your photos are straight on in order to get an accurate view of the bump.
Figure out a stance. For me, my stance was to look down and hold my bump.

Here are the pregnancy bump photos that I took when I was pregnant with my second baby.